Customer Reviews

The 20th Century Art Book

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have "The Art Book" by Phaidon and referred to it many times over the years. "The 20th Century Art Book" is an excellent companion and serves as a wonderful reference book to the world of contemporary art. It is small, easy to carry around, packed with great information on some of the most influential artists of this century and explains why these particular artists had such an influence on the world of art today. It is by no means an exclusive and detailed critique of art, rather a great general overview. "The Art Book" and "The 20th Century Art Book" are the best, littlest coffee books you can purchase.

Arranged alphabetically, which is very helpful. Sadly, it generally has but only one painting or photo for each artist, but then the intent here is to cover as many artists as possible, not to be comprehensive on any one artist, and it's quite heavy as it is already.

The 20th Century Art Book is an EXCELLENT reference guide. How many times reading the Arts section of a newspaper, or an interview with an artist, etc., does one hear a reference to another artist and one has no idea who that person is? With this book, you can quickly check it out!

I also very much appreciate the cross-linking - since it's alphabetical, and not by style or school of thought, the editors have listed on each artists's page other artists who are similar or somehow related to that one. I have found the cross-referencing to be very helpful many times.

Unless one already has an encyclopedic knowledge of art of the 20th century, this is a PERFECT book for one's art library as a reference tool. And it's also a GREAT jumping off point for exploring artists: page through randomly, come across something interesting, then go and look for a book of that artist, or head to the museum "in search of."

I treasure my copy, and would not ever wish to part with it.

This book is great for reference or just entertainment in a lazy moment. It provides information on a great number of contemporary artist with high quality representations of one of their works, including cross references to other artists of similar style or movement. The glossaries include an index of terms, movements and museums. I must have paged through this book a hundred times and just can not get tired of it.

A very useful and beautiful resource, this book has the added appeal of having taken the time to acquire writings with some very sensible, succint and honest appraisals of artist, genre, message and composition. All this family of books do likewise but with this book it seems so much more important to get that structure absolutley right, and they have.
Like the other members of it's family it has an a-z approach and takes in a vast array of genres, suprising just how diverse 20th century art is. The only problem, as always, is that those on display have to be limited, so naturally some works and even some artists do not appear. I would not allow that to be off putting, this little family of books gets bigger by the year so I feel assurred that the unrepresented will not stay so for very long!

One painting for each artist, headed by a short analysis of the work and references to other artists who may be connected by subject, style or medium.The paperback is great for reference but I much prefer the hc with its larger reproductions.

A fine overview of 20th-century art. Intelligently organized (alphabetically), colorful & detailed. 500 artists are represented through excellent photos.

I bought this book last night and its so fun. If you like the original "artbook" you'll love it. Its so fun just to flip through and discover new things. I'm not sure if I like it quite as much as the original "artbook", but its close.

I originally was introduced to this work by an art teacher who had the hard copy. It is a beautiful account of the major artists of the 20th Century. I bought the paper version because of the price not realizing it is about 1/2 the size. Had I known I probably would have bought the hard bound edition.

This is a handy and instructive introduction to some of the most important names in the 20th century art. The book consists of small snippets of information about five hundred artworks and the artists who created them. The collection is dominated by Western artists of note, but it is also quite clear that in the 20th century "high art" has finally become a truly global phenomenon. Each artist is represented with a short biographical note, a picture of one of his or her most prominent works, and an accompanying description of the said artwork. This is a very handy and accessible way of getting to know artists and learning about the modern art. However, a book of this scope has its share of limitations. Aside from not being able to learn more than a few sentences about each artwork or artistic style, the format of the book is rather small (the book is only 5 by 6 1/2 inches) and it doesn't do the fool justice to many of the most amazing artworks that are presented herein. The font of the text is also very small, and I find myself squinting in order to be able to read it. Nonetheless, the book is a very useful resource and I would recommend it as a convenient handbook of the 20th century art.

THE 20TH CENTURY ART BOOK is a very informative and well-researched book presenting renowned artists of the 20th century who have had a significant impact on the development of art. Arranged alphabetically, each page is devoted to one artist presenting a beautiful reproduction of the artists work, a brief description of the historical importance of the artist and a reference to other artists who contributed to the same art movement. The author presents the work of painters, photographers, textile artists and installation artists. This is a serious collection of 20th century art and the author does include some images ( not too many) that may be disturbing to some readers. Having said that, artists have always been watchguards of our society and many times their passionate interpretations can leave the viewer feeling disturbed. Perhaps that is the intent!